Another Day
by Blanca und Noire
Summary: It is natural for humans to want to survive; they do what they must to live another day. A certain group of teenagers come to realize this as they fight their way to safety. Then again, is anyone truly safe in a zombie apocalypse? Collab fic. No canon characters. Takes place in the same school as the anime/manga for the first few chapters.
1. Chapter 1: The Valley of Death

Alright, so, Blanca here. I have the honor of starting off our first story on this account... so here it is. My chapters will be from my OC, Azumi's, point of view. As for Noire, though, it will be up to her as to the perspective in her chapters and what not. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I neither own nor claim to own Highschool of the Dead or any related characters or locations. This is purely for amusement.

**Edit:** Since this chapter was written quite a while ago, I went back and switched a lot of sentences around to make it a little more readable. It's still far from being perfect, though, so I suggest getting past this first chapter before judging this fanfic's quality.

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**xX Chapter 1: The Valley of Death Xx**

Life wasn't filled with much excitement for Keiji Azumi. The high school girl often woke up to follow the same schedule: scarfing down her breakfast before running to get ready for the day. Her parents worked most of the time, leaving her to talk with her younger twin brothers, both around 10 years old, which she didn't actually bother trying to do. They were young boys, afterall, which lead to some pranks on their unsuspecting sister, further deepening the ridge between them.

Azumi just didn't want to deal with them that morning, so she had set her alarm a bit earlier than usual so she would be getting ready by the time they sulked downstairs to get something to eat. The two weren't in the happiest of moods in the early hours of the day so pretty much everyone in the household would steer clear during that time. For some reason she hadn't heard them pound down the steps like usual, though. She only dismissed it as them simply being quiet that day and went on with her plan.

She stood in front of the mirror in the house's only bathroom, allowing the reflective surface to fog almost completely before cutting off the water. As the last drop dripped out the nervous girl jumped as she heard a pounding from somewhere outside the window. Azumi inched forward until her shins rested against the side of the tub, the other half of her body stretching until her hand could pull aside the curtains, peering into her neighbors' yard only a few yards away from her own.

The square patch of grass was empty of life; the only movement was the hose which was sprawled across the ground, water gushing out onto the path leading up to their front door. Azumi narrowed her eyes, raising a foot onto the smooth edge of her bath to be able to raise herself higher to get a better view. Her gaze immediately went to the side windows as her heart beat increased, the vital organ seeming to shoot right up into her throat. Their neighbors were an elderly couple, after all, so she could only imagine what would happen if the two were being robbed.

Minutes passed without any signs of movement on either the lawn or what the girl could see of the inside of the house. Azumi sighed, letting her breathing steady before looking out onto the street. It was at that moment that she realized how she could possible look to anyone looking in from the outside. Her face to reddened as she quickly closed the curtains as her hands unconsciously covered her chest.

After finishing up in the bathroom she went to throw on her uniform, struggling with her shoes as someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Azumi called out, trying to force her heel in. She would definitely need a new pair soon. While the frustrated girl continued with her battle, a pair of long, smooth fingers pushed open the door, revealing a sweet face framed by smooth black locks: her mother. The woman had this aura around her that made her seem as though she couldn't hurt a fly, which both annoyed and pleased her daughter. It was hard to argue with such a person without feeling guilty for doing so. Her mother was also a rather easy person to talk to, which helped when the twins were in a bad mood. Somehow she was almost always able to talk them down from the ceiling.

"Mamoru and Manabu don't feel so well today, Azumi, so I'll be staying home to take care of them." she said in a rather calm voice, sending a smile in her direction. She only nodded in response, her focus going back to her shoes as she wiggled her foot, finally managing to get it on. It was a snug fit, but it would do. After shoving on the other she looked up to see her mother still standing in the doorway, that smile of hers refusing to budge.

"M-mother...?" Azumi stuttered, her eyes widening as she stood up, clutching her bag in her hands, "Is everything alright?"

The smile only widened, "Oh, everything is fine. I just have a lot on my mind." she dismissed her daughter's concerns and waved a hand as if to bat them away, "Don't hang around too long! School can be a rather long walk when trying to maneuver around the traffic."

She nodded once more as her mother headed off down the hallway. The door was left open behind the woman, which allowed the lingering steam from the bath seep into her room. Azumi took a deep breath and paused a few moments to wait until the sound of another door opening and closing to be heard. She then shoved a few more books into her bag as well as a pencil and eraser. Azumi flung her bag over her shoulder and bolted through the house to reach her front door. As her feet reached the pavement, though, she heard a few more loud crashes from the house next door. Her head whipped around in the direction of their neighbors only to once again not see a thing move in the yard.

Azumi unconsciously began to walk towards their front gate. She stopped right in front of it and rested a hand on the peeling surface. She lifted her fingers to eye-level and rubbed them together to watch as flakes of paint fell. Her eyes then went back to the gate and noticed that the bare parts were more towards the top of the gate, as if someone had desperately tried to climb over it. Azumi raised an eyebrow and gently pushed it open. The wood creaked and one of the hinges came loose. The gate gave one last groan before she stopped it. If it had moved any further then it probably would have broken apart. Something was definitely wrong here. She put her hand up to her eyes to shade them as she glanced over the house itself. Nothing else beside the running hose seemed to be out of place. Azumi walked over to the bushes and pushed a few branches aside to find the gear to turn it off. Once that was done she went back to the broken gate and examined the scratches once again. It could have been a cat that scrambled over. Still, it wasn't normal of the old couple to leave their property looking so disheveled. Azumi could recall more than one time where she was called over to help them water their garden or even to help plant a few flowers.

She attempted to push the gate back into its original position but paused when the gate let out an even higher groan. Azumi sighed and brushed the back of her hand across her forehead before she headed off down the street. The farther and farther she walked away the panic alarms in her mind began to dim. All of the houses around her were normal enough. A few children of varying ages were being ushered out of one house with their books in-hand while another girl around her age rode past on a bike. Birds were flying about without a care in the world and the normality of the neighborhood was only occasionally broken by the sound of sirens in the distance. _Wait, sirens?_ Azumi came to a stop at the curb beside one of the busiest roads in the town. She looked up and down the street in curiosity before her eyes finally stopped on the scene happening just a little farther down. Her shoulders slackened and allowed her bag to slip down until it rested in the crook of her elbow. From what she could see there had been an accident of some kind; the traffic was beginning to back up. Horns blared up and down the street and startled some younger school kids that had been walking up on the other side of the street.

On closer inspection she recognized the children as some of her brothers' friends: a girl with matching black ponytails and two boys with different shades of brown hair. She began to walk across the street towards them but only ended up taking a step before hesitating. She watched as the two boys looked at each other with an excited glint in their eyes,

"Let's go check it out!" the one boy yelled to the others and took the girl's hand before he practically dragged her down the street towards all of the chaos. The other boy paused for a moment to look around until his wide eyes connected with Azumi's. Their gazes were locked for a couple seconds, which seemed more like hours to her. The boy finally broke their eye contact to run after his friends. He could be heard yelling for them to slow down until the three disappeared into the growing crowd. From the looks of it, it would be foolish of her to try and go her usual way to school. She sighed and fixed the placement of her bag. Azumi would go the back way that some of her school friends sometimes took when in a rush. The route was a bit out of the way, but if she jogged the last mile or so she should get there on time. Besides what had happened in the main part of town, the walk to the school was rather uneventful for Azumi. She thought she heard some rustles in the bushes but just figured it was an animal walking around. There were some woods right by the road, after all. Still, she continued on with her chin high and hoped that whatever it was would go away. It was a great relief for her when a certain pair of metal gates came into view. The nervous girl increased her pace until she was running towards her goal.

As Azami took her first couple steps onto school grounds, she heard the distant sound of a bell ringing.

"Crap!" she muttered under her breath and, while securing her bag on her shoulder, she sprinted the rest of the way to the building. The only time she stopped was to open the door, and even then she went right back to full speed down the hallway and up a flight of stairs. She soon reached the right floor and continued to run, not even noticing another person turning to go down to another floor. Her forehead met with their's and sent them both onto the cold floor.

Azumi ended up sprawled across the ground with her legs bent in front of her. Her skirt rode up rather uncomfortably to her waist in such a position and didn't help with the pain that radiated from her head and lower back. She opened one eye to see that the other girl had fallen in a similar fashion except was already up on her knees. Pain was clearly seen on her face as she rubbed the back of her head.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Azumi stuttered, flinching as she was also able to get up into a kneeling position. She then tugged her skirt down before she looked back at the stranger with an embarrassed smile, "I... should be going." She then struggled to stand up, but when she did she gave a slight bow of her head in the girl's direction before she continued to run down the hallway. Her bag once again hung uncomfortably from the crook of her elbow. When she reached the door the out-of-breath girl swung it open and stood there for a moment as her chest heaved.

A cough interrupted the length of silence that came with her entrance. Azumi looked up to see her teacher glaring at her, the woman standing with a piece of chalk pressed against the board as if she were about to write something. Her still red face went even brighter as she bowed deeply and mumbled apologies for such a loud entrance as well as for being late. Her teacher pinched the bridge of her nose and pointed with the chalk to the girl's desk. Azumi then bowed once more and scurried to her seat. She quickly took out the things she would need for the class and went straight to work.

The day went on rather normally after the morning events. The classes seemed to go slower than usual for her, but that was to be expected for any regular student. Even though she cared about her grades and such it didn't mean that she actually enjoyed them. Her main goal was to just finish high school and finally go off to do better things with her life. Maybe she would even go off to a university somewhere and finally take classes that she actually enjoyed. Azumi's thoughts were interrupted when a buzzing sound echoed throughout the school. Her head snapped up from where it rested on her hand while her other one stopped doodling on some notes that she was supposed to be taking. Some of the other girls squeaked in surprise while others continued to lay back in their seat. The rest of the students reacted similar to her: snapping out of their thoughts or stopping whatever they were doing to look around. Confusion was written clearly across their faces.

There was some more crackling before a voice could be heard. She wasn't exactly paying close attention to whatever the man was saying, having decided to go back to doodling, but anyone who didn't miss the sudden screams were either deaf or fell asleep during the lesson. Azumi's eyes widened as the man's screams for help seemed to echo around the room and was followed by a moaning in the background that sent everyone on edge. As soon as the screaming started, though, it ended, and left only silence.

"Shit-"

One of the boys said in a shaky voice, snapping everyone out of whatever trance they were in. People began screaming and pushed each other to reach the door. Azumi just stayed in her seat with her hands hovering over her mouth as the students ran past. Some even pushed aside the teacher. The sudden force sent her into the chalk board where she slumped down onto the floor and disappeared from her view. Azumi only bothered to move when the last student ran out. She stood up on two shaky legs to walk to the front of the eerily empty room. Her hand rested on the edge of the podium as she peered over it. The sight of the passed out woman caused her to gasp and take a few steps backward. Her teacher's bun was a mess and a little blood was seen smeared across the wall behind her. The sight disgusted her to the point of nausea.

_How?_

Azumi stumbled towards the door with a hand resting on the wall as she peered out into the hallway. There were a few people wandering about that had hung back like herself. They seemed to still be in shock, as if they were thinking it was all a dream.

_Why?_

She felt tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes, a few creating wet streaks down her cheeks as she struggled to figure out what was going on. Her hands curled into tight fists as she took a few steps out into the hall. Her footsteps echoed much louder than usual. Azumi then stopped to raise a hand to wipe away her tears and sniffed as she did so.

"This can't be happening... This can't be happening..." she heard a boy whisper from somewhere further down the hallway. Her gaze locked onto him just a second before her stomach flipped and she rose a hand to cover her mouth at the sight. His clothes were tattered and splattered with blood as if he had been in a fight. A particular dark spot was by his neck where she saw the flesh ripped away, the sleekness of a bone peeking out as he limped along. He then paused to cough up more blood across the once shiny tiles. He stayed bent over for a moment before collapsing to the floor. His body still twitched from the pain as more blood continued to trickle from his mouth.

Azumi could only look on in horror as the boy finally went still in his own pool of blood. The boy then began to stand up just seconds later without much difficulty as she had expected. His skin looked a bit more grey and sickly than before. His head stayed limp for a moment before he looked up, his face sunken as his mouth opened and let out the same groan that everyone had heard over the speakers. That sight was what finally had her streaking towards the nearest staircase. All she could think of was to keep going higher and figure out what to do from there. Pretty soon she reached the end of the staircase that stopped at the floor just below the roof.

_Run._  
_All I have to do is run._

Those words continued to run through her mind as she ran; the windows letting in the only light available in the surprisingly wrecked hallway. Pieces of desks and paper were sprawled across the once-polished floor. The foundation of the school seemed to creak with every step she took.

_Run._

The spine-chilling moans of Them echoed down the hall, bouncing off the walls around the uniformed girl.

_Run!_

She willed her feet to move even faster, trying to imagine herself as being only a blur. That way of thinking always helped her before out on the track, but those times weren't exactly life threatening. Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt, though, when similar sounds rose up from the staircase she was heading towards. She cautiously looked down at the floors below to see a writhing mass of decaying bodies clumsily making their way up to their meal.

Her hand slowly lowered until only her fingers grazed her bottom lip, allowing a useless plea to escape, "Please... someone... help me..."

A pitter-patter of feet echoed down the hallway. At first Azumi thought it was Them coming to get her, but then she began to question that. They didn't seem to be able to go all that fast. She was just about to look over her shoulder when she felt a hand grasp her own, tugging her towards the stairs that she thought had a way up to the roof when really it didn't.

"No!" she screamed, trying to pull her hand away from whatever seemed to be pulling her to her death.

"Come on!" a girl's voice surprised Azumi. This caused her to pause and actually look at the hand that was wrapped around her wrist. Her eyes followed up her arm, to the collar of the girl's uniform, and finally to her light brown eyes.

"I-It's you!" she whispered in amazement, recognizing the girl she had run into before, about to apologize again before the girl just shook her head,

"Please, let's just go!" the girl pleaded and once again tried to pull her towards a door that Azumi had neglected to notice before. It was probably the one to the roof, now that she thought about it. She then nodded in response and held her tongue as the girl flung open the door, still dragging her along as she ran up the stairs that immediately greeted them. They only went up for a couple of yards before yet another door was seen. It was at that moment that Azumi stopped resisting and actually pushed the strange girl out of the way, desperate to open the door herself. For what reason, she really didn't know.

The light of the outside world temporarily blinded the two as they stumbled out onto the roof. As their eyesight slowly became sharper they both sighed in relief that the area was free of Them. As her companion began walking across, Azumi turned back to the door. They should at least try to block it off until they get their heads straight. She then looked around and after a few minutes she found a broom propped up on the wall just inside the small staircase. It wasn't very sturdy, but at least it could've given them some time to get away. With that thought in mind she stuck it through the handle of the door.

Azumi then turned around to look over the rest of the roof, spotting the girl standing just a few yards away. She turned around to face her and pointed up at the sky. They both looked up, Azumi noticing the faint roar of an engine in the distance. A helicopter then came into view moments later but didn't actually go anywhere near them. It instead veered off towards a busier part of town. Her eyes continued to follow it as she began to take in what their surroundings contained.

There was smoke rising up from flames scattered where ever they looked, accompanied by the tortured screams of terrified people. A hand rose to her mouth at the feeling of her stomach churning. She quickly turned away but was only able to run a few steps before emptying her stomach.

"Why... why is this happening?" she heard the girl whimper.

Azumi coughed a few times before she could respond, "I don't know." She backed up a few feet to get away from the pool of sick before bending down until her knees touched her chest. She stared blankly at the chaos happening around them.

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_Next time on Another Day!_

"Act dead!"

"You're raiding the bodies?"

"I made you a Useful."

"Why didn't you tell me you were changing!?"

"Let's make a break for it."

**xX Chapter 2: Murder's Plaything Xx**


	2. Chapter 2: Murder's Plaything

**Another Day**

_**Chapter 2: Murder's Plaything**_

**DISCLAIMER:** I neither own nor claim to own Highschool of the Dead or any related characters or locations. This is purely for amusement.

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It was just not Fumio's day.

He somehow knew from the moment he woke up by rolling onto the floor that today was going to be the shitiest day of his life, but never expected the zombie apocalypse. Then again, who expects the zombie apocalypse?

No, he had just expected a normal day, which was always a crappy day. Go to school, be ignored, come home, be ignored. But, now he was sitting, knees hugged to his chest in a utility closet.

_Wake up now, Fumio. Wake up._

He squeezed his teal eyes shut, rocking gently. He would be either crying or laughing hysterically normally, but some odd instinct kept him absolutely quiet, even if the moaning of one of Them passed his closet. He didn't even scream, just clasped his hand over his mouth and nose to mask his breathing.

You know, he thought, this is kind of funny. He was just talking to some of his friends about what would happen to them during the zombie apocalypse.

"I'd have stocked up on so much guns and Spam and stuff that I'd be totally fine." his friend Akio had said, "And I'd rise up as the new leader and reestablish the feudal system, raping and pillaging as I please."

"Right, Akio." he had responded, not looking up from his book.

"Oh shut up. You're just jealous because you'd be the first to die. And that's Shogun Akio to you."

Come to think of it, he saw Shogun Akio earlier. A chunk of flesh was torn from his decaying neck.

He shook his head, disgusted. Not what he needed to be thinking about. Fumio realized the importance of keeping his lunch. He couldn't stay in this compartment forever. He needed food and there was no food in this closet. Well, he guessed he could cannibalize himself. He grimaced at the thought.

He convinced himself to leave, but another set of moaning zombies (that's what They were, right?) passed his closet. He shivered, barely stopping himself from gasping.

The moaning got closer and something banged against the door. The smell was terrible._ Keep your lunch. Keep your lunch._ Fumio jumped up as well as he could and pulled the handle of the closet door towards him, keeping the door closed. _Shit, shit, shit!_

Then there was the yell of a girl, "Act dead!" And several smacks of something against dead flesh. The girl yelled out in aggression and the end of a crowbar smashed through the closet door, wood bursting into the closet. Fumio ducked out of the way and screamed rather femininely.

"Oh, hello." a chirpy voice said through the hole in the door "Just a second." She grunted a few times, then opened the door.

The first thing Fumio noticed about her was how skinny she was. Normally, skinny was a good thing, but definitely not on this girl. The word was undernourished, he decided. Maybe emaciated. Definitely grotesque. She was of average height, with arms and legs that seemed a little bit too long. Her hair was a weird shade of brown that seemed to be almost dark orange. It was short and curled in every which direction, hugging the sides of her round face, and sticking out. Her red-orange eyes were huge, and her mouth was stretched in a wide, almost disturbing, grin. Her nose was small and upturned. She wore a bloodstained school uniform, but Fumio had never seen her before. He would have remembered her face. The top seemed too large, and the skirt too short. She also had socks that came just above her knee. Well, one did. The other was pushed just below her knee. She did not wear shoes. In her bony hand was a blood-covered crowbar.

Shocked into speechlessness, Fumio looked around. He remembered walking through this hallway just the other day. It was bright and girls giggled about something as they walked. Now the corpses of three girls laid, bloody and decaying. Their heads were smashed in, blood and brain matter covering them. He unwittingly stepped in some and gagged before reminding himself to keep his lunch.

The girl giggled, "Now let's see if I can get anything from these three."

She stepped through the carnage to the first and shook her head, then moved to the second, whom Fumio recognized as a third-year. She bent over, prompting him to turn away as to not look up her skirt.

"Ooh! Just my size!" she squealed.

Fumio turned back around to find her slipping her feet into the dead girl's shoes. Disturbed, he whispered angrily, "You're raiding the bodies?"

She looked at him, blinking as if confused, "What's the big deal? Momo needs new shoes, and her feet are so big it's almost impossible to find her size. They won't be needing them anymore." Her voice was high and chirpy.

"Don't you have any respect for the dead?"

By now, she had moved to the third corpse, "Momo doesn't think They deserve to get respect. They look dead, but don't act dead. It's not nice to not act dead when you are dead."

Fumio narrowed his eyes, perplexed, "What's your name?"

"Momo." she responded, pulling two ribbons from the dead girl's hair.

"Momo? Do you have a surname?"

She stood up straight for a minute, looking up at the ceiling. Then she smiled, "Oh, yeah, I remember. Momo's surname is Tachibana."

"Tachibana Momo..." Fumio mumbled to himself.

"Yup." Momo smiled, tying her dull hair into lopsided pigtails, "Bye-bye, now."

"Wait!"

"Why?"

"Don't you wanna escape together or something? We have a better chance of surviving if there's two of us." Fumio felt his cheeks burn. Was he begging? And why?

That was obvious. He couldn't kill anything, he supposed. This Momo seemed unstable, yes, but she could kill callously.

"I don't know you, though."

"I-I'm Fumio. K-Ka-Kagome Fumio." He shook.

"No thanks."

Fumio opened his mouth, then closed it, realizing he had nothing more to say. Momo smiled and opened her mouth, taking in a breath before noticing the muted moaning and shuffle of shoes. They were approaching. She whipped around and brandished her crowbar as They rounded the corner.

"Stay there, Fumio. Momo'll take care of this."

No problem, Fumio thought.

The girl seemed to pounce on the corpses, smashing the head of the first one in one quick swipe. She squealed words he had a hard time understanding, pirouetting on her long, spider-like legs. It could have been a dance, but she was killing. Or rekilling. Either way, Fumio was astonished by how easy it seemed for her. He felt as if he should get himself a weapon and help out, but by the time the thought had entered his mind, the bloodbath was over. Momo's shoulders moved up and down, her breathing erratic.

She giggled.

_What was wrong with this girl?_

"We should get moving." she whispered.

"So, we're working together now?" he asked.

"Momo hasn't had a friend in a long time, and she isn't good at talking to people. Maybe you can help her talk to other not-dead people." Momo smiled almost warmly, blood smeared on her cheek.

Well, I'm not much help with that. Negotiation wasn't Fumio's thing. He was good with logic, though, and wasn't negotiation just pointing out logic? Who the hell would they even need to talk to? Everyone's...well, dead...or reanimated. Whatever They were, Momo could kill them without much consideration.

"So. Let's go."

"W-wait!" He yelled, slapping his hand over his mouth.

"Momo's not going to leave you behind." she sighed, sounding exasperated.

"It's not that, it's just...you know...maybe we should, uh...plan?"

Momo cocked her head, her hair moving further into her face, covering her right eye.

"Like...where are we going? What do we need to get? St-stuff like that." He absentmindedly drew a smiley face in the blood on the floor with his foot.

"Oh." she blinked several times.

"Yeah..."

"Where are we going, then, Fumio?" the corners of her mouth turned upwards.

"Away from here seems like a good idea." he said, noting the appearance of more of Them around the corner, "Yeah, that sounds like a really good idea! Come on!"

He turned away and began to run down the hall, almost slipping in a random puddle of blood. He was fairly sure Momo was behind him, but didn't know for sure. If she was, good! If she wasn't...well, he was most certainly doomed. He wondered if the people zombified retained knowledge. If so, and she had become one of Them, he was so screwed.

At what he assumed was a safe distance, merely when he could not breathe any longer, he stopped, sliding into an empty classroom and slamming the door behind him. Something banged at the door. Did he dare look? He dared, and looked up to see Momo, something very like panic in her fire-colored eyes. Quickly, Fumio opened the door to let her in. She barely got both feet in the door before he slammed it shut and threw himself against the door.

"We're so screwed!" He yelled over the increasingly-loud sounds of Them.

"No, we aren't." Momo took her left shoe and sock off and moved to the teacher's desk. She took some paperweights and shoved them into the sock. Then she tied the sock in a knot.

"What are you doing!?"

Momo swung the sock over her head and turned to a desk, bringing it down. The desk broke from the weight of the glass and the force of her swing.

"Oh, this'll do nicely." She grinned.

"Wh-what's that for?" He pushed up against the door.

"I made you a Useful." Her grin widened, extending the sock to him.

"Umm...Thanks?" he took the sock, back still pressing against the door, "Smash the heads, right?"

"I guess." She spun her crowbar around in her hand, "Get away from the door."

_Here we go..._

He moved away, and swung the sock above his head in preparation for the coming storm.

Momo flung the door open, releasing Them into the empty classroom.

Fumio expected to have a switch go off in his mind and become a killer. But that didn't happen. He simply stood swinging the sock over his head, waiting for something to kill.

One of Them finally came at him and he brought the sock across to smash the side of their head. They went flying into the teacher's desk, but it was still alive, moaning and stinking. Disgusted into a rage, he picked up momentum above his head and brought it down again, smashing its head further.

That's when the switch went off.

Fumio did it again. And again. And again. Each time he felt much more powerful.

Then he recognized the girl.

Her name was Nakano Megumi. In life, she was quiet and bookish. Shogun Akio always described her as "moe." She had powder blue hair always tied in two braids and light gray eyes. She was always very nice to Fumio, smiling and offering help with his homework, which was something he never needed help with. He supposed helping people with homework was her main form of social interaction. Fumio didn't feel like lying to himself, he liked her as more than a friend, an acquaintance, rather. He never got a chance to talk to her at length.

And now They had made her this...thing.

Subsequently, They had made him hurt her like this.

Eventually, he stopped even swinging the sock around his head and just bashed it against her, no, _its_ head. When Fumio tired, he screamed, dropping his weapon and covering his face with his blood-speckled hands. He was covered in brain matter, as well. He felt himself shaking. This could not be real. It just could not be real.

A hand on his shoulder broke him out of his stupor. He looked at the hand, fearing and hoping for it to be one of Them. Instead, the hand belonged to Momo.

"It's okay. She's acting dead now."

He was about to ask if there were any more zombies, but saw various piles of bloodied bodies near the open door.

"Sorry. This whole thing is a little...hard to swallow..."

Momo grinned, then turned to Megumi's unrecognizable body. No. It wasn't Megumi. It wasn't anyone. "Do you think that her clothes would fit me better?"

"You mean its clothes." he murmured, then raised his voice, "Yeah. They'll work."

Momo moved closer, "Fumio did a good job making this one play dead, but it would be hard to get off its shirt."

He shrugged. She blinked at him then turned back to the body. Fumio seethed silently about how much They would pay. _Damn Them. Damn Them all._

He wondered why he was so angry all of a sudden. Before this, he was apathetic. He didn't care about anything but getting through his day. Now, he cared. About what, he wasn't sure. He could figure that out if he survived.

"Aha!" Momo shouted, holding up the shirt, "I got it!"

"How'd you do that!?" Fumio demanded, broken out of his contemplation by sheer astonishment.

She acted as if she couldn't hear him and pulled the skirt down its legs. Then she kicked off her shoes and pulled her shirt off over her head.

He screamed effeminately and covered his eyes with his hands.

"What's wrong, Fumio?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were changing!?"

Momo sounded genuinely confused, "Why would I need to say that?"

"Wouldn't you rather I didn't see you naked?"

"But Momo isn't naked."

Fumio sighed, "Naked, minimally clothed, same diff."

"Momo doesn't understand..."

He opened his eyes a little to check and see if she was clothed, and she was. The top looked better, and the skirt was just a little longer.

Momo furrowed her eyebrows, "Momo used to do that all the time, and no one ever yelled at her."

"You don't have to answer this if it's too personal, but, ah," he felt his cheeks burn, "Why were you stripping?"

"The Captors told Momo to do it so they could check and see if she had any Usefuls. They said they didn't want her to hurt herself, but Momo doesn't want to hurt herself." she explained.

Fumio would have asked, but didn't. He figured if he knew he would fear her even more than now, and he didn't need to be afraid of her. Instead he asked, "So what now?"

"I'm not sure. Do you have any ideas?" Momo wiped off her crowbar with a sleeve, turning the somewhat-bloody fabric totally red.

He thought for a moment, "Let's make a break for it."

She cocked her head, "What do you mean?"

"Escape the school. Then maybe we could raid a supermarket or a department store or something and get some supplies to set up a little camp. We should move around."

"Good idea."

"Thanks." he smiled slightly, "There's going to be a lot of Them wherever we head, though."

Momo grinned wickedly, "Oh, Fumio, you know Momo can deal with that."

* * *

**Next Time On: Another Day!**

"I don't even know your name."

"Are you going to help or not?"

"Dammit!"

"I-I have a bad feeling..."

"Momo?"

_**:Chapter 3: Devil's Den:**_

* * *

Um, so, yeah. This is Noire. That was my shitty first contribution to this thing. I always put my notes at the end of the chapter, I don't know why. There probably is not much rhyme or reason to it. I just don't like things to get crowded. You're here to read the story, right? So yeah. All I really have to say is I like Fumio. He's such a...coward. C'est drole, n'est-ce pas? (yes I know the accent circomflexe is not on the o in drole but I don't know the code to stick it in there. Also, I probably did not spell circomflexe right there. Or just now...lol sorry).

Well, that went on too long. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: The Slaughter Pen

Hey, it's Blanca here bringing you all the third chapter of Another Day! I don't have much to say about this chapter, but I hope you all enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I neither own nor claim to own Highschool of the Dead or any related characters or locations. This is purely for amusement.

* * *

**xX Chapter 3: The Slaughter Pen Xx**

The strong scent of smoke was what finally shook Azumi from her thoughts. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes before looking around in a daze. The first thing she noticed was that the blonde girl that helped her before was not in her sight. Still, she didn't immediately respond to that and instead looked up at the reddening sky; they had been up there for not just a few minutes. She once again rubbed her eyes and struggled to her feet while her mind continued to run in circles. Nothing from her surroundings were sticking. She was blank.

Azumi groaned as the pain radiating from her back was finally noticed. She stretched and, upon hearing a satisfying 'pop,' let her eyes fully look over the roof. Eventually her gaze landed on the girl who stood towards the center of the large space. Azumi lifted a hand to wave at her just as everything clicked together. The smoke. The distant sounds of groaning. Them. They were far from being safe.

"Hey-!" Her yell was caught off when a loud rumbling echoed all around them. She rose her hands to her ears with a grimace and looked above them to see yet another helicopter. This time it was hovering just above them. Without any second thoughts she found herself screaming at the top of her lungs and waving her hands around frantically. She continued to scream even when her throat felt raw from the effort. Her cries only stopped when her companion placed a hand on her shoulder. Azumi looked into the scared girl's eyes in confusion before further inspecting the machine. From what she could see, smoke was rising out of its interior and was slowly beginning to cover their view of the sky. All of the windows were clouded with ash and only a few blinking lights were seen in the cockpit.

"What... What's wrong with it?" The girl stuttered as tears came to her eyes. Azumi just shook her of her hold on her shoulder and turned back to the confusing scene. The helicopter had begun to putter away for about a block in length before all of the whirling came to a sudden halt. It hung there just long enough for a few rotting hands to smash through one of the windows before dropping. A flash of bloodied jaws was the last thing Azumi saw as it crashed onto the track that she had run many times before. She cried out in anguish at the sight of the growing flames licking at the air.

"Why...?"  
"I don't know, ok? I don't know!" Azumi snapped at the blonde's question. A headache had begun where her brows furrowed and her fingers rubbed the skin in anxiety, "We... We should just get out of here," Yet the two comtinued to watch in a stunned silence as the flames continued to rise and fall before them; the glow casted shadows across their bodies.

After a few more minutes the girl began to tug on Azumi's sleeve, "L-let's go... P-please?"

"I don't even know your name," she murmured, ignoring her plead. She opened her mouth to introduce herself just as another explosion rang through the air. Azumi's head snapped in the direction of the track field to see that the rest of the helicopter had gone up in flame. Her eyes widened and she clutched the girl's hand as she ran towards the door.

The two bolted down the staircase, Azumi with the broom from before in-hand, and skid across the tiles as they rounded the corner. They sprinted into the nearest classroom and Azumi slammed the door shut behind them. She turned around after catching her breath to look at their surroundings. The room had a desk laying on its side as well as some books and papers scattered everywhere. Her eyes soon landed on a closet towards the back of the room and she gestured for her companion to follow.

Azumi knelt down and began to rummage through the junk that had built up among the light coating of dust. Eventually her fingers wrapped around a sturdy wooden stick. She brought the large ruler out and placed it on the floor beside her before going back to her search. Azumi tossed the lid of a box by her side and rested a small container on her lap. From inside the box she found a pair of scissors as well as a roll of duct tape.

"W-what are y-you doing?" the blonde stuttered from behind her. She knelt down and gingerly picked up the ruler to examine it, "I-I don't have much s-strength and..." Her sentence trailed off once she realized that Azumi wasn't paying attention. Instead her eyes were focused on the rest of the items that she dug out: a few unsharpened pencils, some markers, a small box of crayons, and an eraser that was worked down to a small stub.

"There's got to be more than this..." Azumi whispered, a few tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes, "Help me!" She growled at the girl before she once again fumbled through the closet. It took a few moments before another pair of hands joined hers.

The closet was practically empty by the time that they were done. It didn't take them very long, but their hurried search left the girls out of breath. Azumi ran her fingers through her purple locks as she eyed the mess that they had made. They had just wasted their time by trying to dig through the pile. She didn't expect that they would find guns and lots of bullets, but she couldn't have helped but to hope that they would.

"W-what are we g-going to d-do?" the girl sniffed as she continued to run her fingers over the ruler. Azumi took a deep breath to steady herself and straightened up before looking over at her. She was about to respond when her eyes once again landed on the smooth piece of wood. Without a second thought she took it from her grasp and fumbled around for the duct tape and scissors. After some cutting and placing she had the scissors' handles pulled out so a blade was sticking out at each end and was strapped to the edge of the long ruler. Azumi pushed herself to her feet and swiped the new "weapon" at the air a few times. She smiled in satisfaction and handed it to the girl.

"Here's what we're going to do. Now all we have to do is gather some supplies and find secure shelter... that is, if you want to," Azumi's smile turned sheepish as she turned away to push some of the items back into the closet with the toe of her shoe.

"L-let's do that," the girl ended up stuttering after a moment. Azumi nodded and picked up her broom from one of the desks nearby. She didn't really know much about fighting but she had seen her brothers play those ridiculous action games from time to time. If all else failed, she would just start running. She nodded to herself before turning back to the blonde beside her,

"We should head down to the cafeteria first. There may be some food left there," That is, if none of the other students had come up with the same plan as her own. Hopefully most of them just ran for it. Azumi shook the thoughts from her mind and tightened her grip until her knuckles whitened to try and bring herself back to reality. She tilted her head towards the door and headed over with the girl by her side.

"One... Two..." she paused briefly and took a deep breath, "Three!" Azumi opened the door and burst out into the hallway. She came within inches of one of Them before veering to the side. With one panicked swing of the broom, They dropped to the floor with its leg twisted at an odd angle. A grey hand clamped down on her shoulder and pulled her backwards. She let out a scream and jabbed at its stomach. The sound of crunching bones signaled that she met her target just as one of Them grabbed onto her ankle. Azumi struggled to pull the broom from the rotting piece of flesh behind her as her foot came down on the crawling Thing's head. Brain matter splattered across the floor, leaving her gagging as she quickly turned and kicked. The force from her adreniline sent Them stumbling backwards just long enough for her to back up out of its reach.

"Are you going to help or not?" Azumi called out to the panic-striken girl that still stood helplessly at the door. She then turned back to the still-advancing Thing and held the broom out defensively before her. Still it reached out at her with bloodied hands. She screamed again and tried to kick at its legs until one of the rotting limbs twisted and brought Them down ontop of her. Azumi swung the broom at the head with her eyes shut tight as blood splattered across her face and upper-body. They dropped to their knees and she took a step back before the corpse sprawled across the tiles.

"Why didn't you do anything?" she turned to the girl and snapped, her eyes narrowed in anger. Her eyes began to moisten and she quickly turned away before wiping her cheeks with the back of her free hand, "Come on..." Azumi stepped cautiously over the bodies and headed off down the hallway. The shocked blonde stood there for a few more seconds before scurrying after her. She caught up just as Azumi rounded the corner and right into someone, or something, else. Their foreheads bounced off each other's and left the two groaning in pain.

"I... I'll take care of this!" the voice called out just as a sock swung at Azumi's head. She yelped and ducked with the object missing her just by a few inches. A ruler shot out from behind her and right at the attacker. The scissor-free edge hit them right between the eyes and sent them stumbling backwards into someone else.

"What... what the hell was that for!" Azumi sputtered, still a bit shaken. Her eyes looked over the two before her and her eyebrows rose in disbelief. She didn't expect to see other normal students so soon, especially the dark-haired boy. She couldn't quite place his name yet somehow she had a feeling that she saw him somewhere before. The girl beside him was the one that left her at a blank. The school uniform was quite obvious so she must have been attending the school. Perhaps she was a new student. That didn't really matter much at the moment, though.

"You're... not dead..." the boy whispered as if in a haze.

"Of course not!" Azumi scowled briefly before her face reddened. She probably looked like a mess considering the rather dangerous encounter that she had with Them just down the hallway; her clothes were already tainted with blood as well as many tear stains that decorated her shirt. Arms crossed over her chest as her face continued to grow even redder.

The boy smiled nervously before struggling to his feet with one hand rubbing at the bruise that was sure to be forming. After a moment he turned around to the orange-haired girl beside him to help her to her feet. She only stared at the two girls before her briefly before whispering something in his ear.

"Ah... well, her name is Tachibana Momo," he motioned with an awkward wave of his hand before coughing, "And... ah... I'm Kagome Fumio. And... uh..." his sentence trailed off and he stuck his hands into his pockets. He grimaced before looking up into Azumi's eyes for about a second and quickly looked back down at his shoes.

"I'm Keiji Azumi," she replied after a moment and looked over at the girl beside her. She jerked her head in the direction of the two to try and signal for her to introduce herself. The noise from the fire had blocked her from hearing before, so it would be a great time for her to finally find out. The shy girl's mouth opened to reply just as a loud crash came from somewhere in the direction that Azumi and her had come from. All four of their heads whipped around in time to see a large hoarde of Them scrambling up the stairs and across the bloody tiles towards the small group.

Azumi opened her mouth and closed it a few times in shock before she grabbed the girl's wrist and dragged her off in the opposite direction of Them. The unnamed girl wasn't much help, but it was nice to have someone else around instead of just being by herself.

"Hey! Wait up!" Fumio yelped and scrambled after them with Momo at his heels. The two quickly caught up to them just as they reached another flight of stairs. They all ran down while clearing two or three steps at a time until they reached the very bottom. One of Them crawled out from beneath the stairs and had just enough time to expose its bloody teeth before Momo brought a crowbar down on its head. She then hit it again just to make sure before she kicked it off to the side with her shoe.

"Ah, great job, Momo!" Fumio said with a nervous smile.

She only waved his praise off with a shit-eating grin that uneased Azumi, "Momo needs no praise." She then went on to open the door that lead out to another hallway with the others trailing behind her. The silent blonde was the last one to pass through before she hesitated and rested a hand on the door frame. Azumi looked over her shoulder at the girl in confusion and motioned for the others to stop as well.

The girl grimaced at the sudden attention, "I-I just... I just don't u-understand w-why we're w-with those two, Azumi," she whispered with her eyes on Momo, "I-I'm e-especially worried about h-her."

"What do you mean?" Fumio asked with narrowed eyes. He took a few steps towards Momo as if to defend her before he faltered and shuffled back into his original spot a few feet away. Momo raised an eyebrow at his little dance routine, causing Azumi to smile in amusement, and turned her attention back to the nervous girl.

"I won't hurt any of you. Momo won't attack anyone that isn't dead with this Useful." she said while holding up her bloodied crowbar. The sight of it had her wiping off the red stains with the front of her shirt before she once again held it limp at her side.

"A-Azumi," the girl pleaded with wide eyes, "A-Are we really g-going to t-trust these two?"

Azumi sighed and rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, "Do we really have a choice? Having two more allies is better than having two more enemies, if you ask me." Her friend began to persist before she stopped herself and looked down at her shoes in silence. A few moments passed before Momo once again lead the way down the hallway. She then stopped after a few yards and turned around to face the group.

"Where exactly are we going?" Momo asked while pulling at one of her lopsided pigtails. Everyone looked over at Azumi expectantly with questioning looks.

"Eh? Why should I decide?" she huffed with her arms crossed, "I'm not exactly an expert at surviving... this."

"Do you expect me to step up instead?" Fumio sputtered in response.

"No. We'd all be dead in a matter of minutes." Azumi muttered. She couldn't help but to giggle at his glare soon after, "Well, we shouldn't worry about that right now. Before we ran into you two we were heading towards the cafeteria, so I guess we should continue heading there."

Heads nodded as the sounds of moaning from the stairway increased. The door leading to it exploded with rotten, clawing hands and splinters in all directions. Azumi held her broom out defensively while she pushed the shaking blonde behind her. Fumio, on the other hand, stood by Momo's side with his sock hanging from his long fingers. He seemed nervous yet a glint in his eyes showed his refusal to back down and join the girl.

Azumi was the first to take on one of Them. She jabbed the handle of the broom at its head while her foot kicked at its chest. A cracking sound could be heard as the corpse crumpled to the ground and crawled towards her. A crowbar made contact with its shoulders as she aimed her broom at its head. Azumi looked up to see Momo with that strange grin once again on her face before she turned to bring her crowbar down on another one of Them. Her gaze then landed on Fumio as he swung his sock around wildly. The two coming at him were knocked to the side by his blows: the one had his head cracked in half by the wall while the other was sent stumbling towards the window. The glass shattered upon impact and dug into its flesh while a few pieces managed to scrape Fumio's arms. He called out in alarm but was able to ignore the pain long enough to send the blow needed to have the thing fall out the window.

"Dammit!" he swore with gritted teeth. Azumi pushed back an approaching one of Them with her broom and ran over to stand in front of Fumio to defend him while he recovered from the initial shock. Momo joined her briefly before she went ahead and ran through what was left of their old peers with her crowbar expertly aimed at various body parts. The blonde had retreated to stand by Fumio while the other two girls fought.

A few minutes passed before they were able to clear out the group. Momo immediately went about at looking over each body while Azumi went to check on Fumio.

"You alright?" she asked and looked down at his injured skin. He only shrugged in response. Azumi examined his face and saw a glint of fear in his blue eyes. She smiled at him assuringly before she patted his shoulder, "We'll somehow get you patched up. Don't you worry." Her face may have portrayed confidence, but in reality she was actually worried about his injuries. It wasn't like he broke a bone or anything like that, which she was thankful for, yet it would set them back considering that one of their group members was already not an asset in battle. They would have to be extremely careful from then on.

"W-we should c-clean his wounds," the blonde stuttered from behind Fumio, "I once dropped a g-glass and had to go to the h-hospital. I s-still remember how they treated my f-feet."

"Momo knows how to, as well," she spoke up from her crouching position by one particular corpse. She had removed the ribbons from her hair and put a headband in its place. Momo stood up and took the accessory from her head to drop back onto the floor. Instead she decided to pull her hair back into a messy bun with one of the ribbons. Well, if you could call it a bun. It was more of a hairstyle that consisted of a ribbon tangled in her orange-tinted locks.

"Let's all take a stop at the bathrooms," Azumi suggested, "We might as well take advantage of the plumbing while we can."

"Ok. Let's go, Fumio," Momo chirped as she reached out to pull him along by his hand. A light blush came to his cheeks and he tried to slip from her tight grasp. Another hand shyly rested on his shoulder and stopped both of them in their tracks.

"I-I said I would h-help him," the blonde insisted with a brief glare thrown in Momo's direction. Azumi probably wouldn't have seen it if she hadn't been so interested in what was going on.

Momo once again flashed that shit-eating grin, apparently blind to the girl's actions, "You don't need to worry. Momo will take care of him." Before the girl could respond, Azumi rested a hand on her arm. She hesitated and took her hand away, allowing them to continue on to the bathroom just down the hallway. She linked arms with her friend and walked after them. The two went on into the boys' bathroom while the two girls entered through their own gender's door. Azumi wasn't entirely sure, but she thought she spotted Momo sticking her tongue out before the door closed behind them.

"W-Why can't we just leave them?" the blonde grumbled as she stood in front of one of the many mirrors. She pushed a few stray bangs from her face and looked back at her companion with a frown, "I s-still don't trust her."

Azumi's fists clenched at her sides until her knuckles turned white. She ignored her question and went past each of the stalls to make sure that none of Them were lurking about. Eventually she came to a stop at one and went in. When the purple-haired girl came back out she walked over to one of the sinks and washed her hands. Her eyes looked over at the blonde by her side.

"Aren't you going to go?"

Her friend shook her head and turned around so she could lean up against the side of the sink, "I-I have a bad feeling..."

"Well, you shouldn't," Azumi snapped, "Momo has turned out to be pretty useful, don't you think? We're lucky to have found such a great fighter among all of this!" Her hand gestured at the building around them to prove her point, "And what the hell was up with what happened back there with Fumio?"

"L-Like I said, I-I don't trust her," she murmured, "not even if you d-do..."

Azumi shook her hands to try and dry them before she wiped them off on her skirt. She avoided eye contact with the girl while she murmured, "Let's go check in on them."

The two girls left the bathroom with their weapons in-hand and took the few steps needed to push open the other door. Azumi lead the way in only to stop suddenly. A squeak came from behind her as her friend ran into her. She put a hand over the blonde's mouth and put a finger to her lips before she tilted her head in the direction that lead further into the bathroom. They both looked back at the two teenagers crouched by each other on the damp floor. Momo had her fingers picking at some little pieces of glass sticking out of his shoulder. Azumi's eyes looked over at the discarded shirt that laid by Fumio as well as a small pile of shards that had been built up.

Fumio had a look of both discomfort and embarassment seen on his bright red face while Momo continued with her work. She had begun to hum an unknown tune as she stood up to go over to the sink to wet a paper towel. It was at that moment she noticed the two girls by the door and smiled.

"Momo is almost done." she assured them before she went back to attending to Fumio's cuts. All of the glass was soon removed and the blood was wiped away with a few paper towels. Momo held out her arm and managed to off a few pieces of her sleeve to wrap around the wounds. She then gave his arm one last pat with a grin and stood up to stretch her back.

"Great job, Momo," Azumi said as she watched Fumio struggle to pull his shirt back on again. He kept trying to put his head through an arm hole while his actual arm seemed to just be trying to create a new hole in the fabric. She sighed and rested her broom against the wall before she stepped forward to help him, "I wonder how you even made it this far without tripping down a whole flight of stairs." She grumbled before a hint of a smile came to her lips.

Fumio's scowl was revealed once his shirt was on correctly, "I'm not that clumsy," he grumbled, "Didn't you see me fight back there?"

"Well, I saw you get injured," Azumi sighed, "Just try to be more careful, okay?" She turned around to recieve her broom to see both Momo and the blonde eye-to-eye with each other. Momo had a death-grip on her crowbar and seemed to be ready to bring it down on the girl before her.

"Momo?" Fumio called out her name in confusion, "What's up with you two?"

Momo turned around to face him, "Nothing is wrong. Let's go get some food!" She grinned and ran over to his side. She went behind him and began to push on his back to get him to move, "Momo is starving!"

Azumi couldn't help but to chuckle at the sight of his bewildered face and him stumbling over his words. She quickly glanced over at the still unnamed girl and instantly regretted it. What she saw was the exact opposite of what she had been hoping for: a clearly unsatisfied glare. Azumi felt a shiver run through her body. She picked up her broom and walked past the girl to open the bathroom door.

"Let's go, everyone!"

* * *

_Next time on Another Day!_

"That would be great!"

"I'm scared."

"It's only a cold."

"Don't you care?"

"It's alright to be afraid."

**xX Chapter 4: Devil's Den Xx**


	4. Chapter 4: Devil's Den

Hey everyone! Blanca here with the fourth chapter of Another Day! Noire gave me the honor of writing another chapter before she goes ahead and writes hers. Don't worry, though! I have a lot of action planned. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I neither own nor claim to own Highschool of the Dead or any related characters or locations. This is purely for amusement.

* * *

**xX Chapter 4: Devil's Den Xx**

Momo slowly ran her fingers along the wall as she walked at the back of the group. Her fingernails scraped the blood stains that had already begun to dry. She hummed a simple tune and would occasionally twirl in a few circles before catching up with the others. Azumi and Fumio ignored her strange behavior and continued to talk in whispers about their plan on getting out of the school. The silent blonde, though, constantly looked over her shoulder and watched in annoyance as Momo slipped on a small patch of blood and nearly fell.

"Don't you t-think she should be m-more quiet?" the girl asked with a frown as she slipped up behind Azumi, "S-She could be a-attracting more of Them." Azumi slowed her pace and glanced over her shoulder at the girl in question. Momo was wiping her shoes off on the tiles in order to try and get rid of some of the blood that had begun to cake there. She gestured to the strange girl to get her attention before putting a finger to her lips. Momo nodded and made a zipper motion across her mouth. Azumi smiled and once again went back to her conversation with Fumio. The unknown girl, though, did not seem satisfied.

Momo skipped the few feet needed to be by the girl's side, "Isn't it strange that a school is covered with blood? The people in long white coats would tell Momo that this kind of place was supposed to be very safe and happy."

"W-What do you expect it to b-be like in a time l-like this? Filled with s-sweets?" she stuttered while glaring down at her shoes.

"That would be great!" Momo grinned and clapped her hands excitedly. The blonde shushed her and crossed her arms across her chest. Momo smiled apologetically before she went silent. The group walked for a while longer as they went down a few more hallways and reached a bare room. On the other side of the empty space was a double door that opened into the cafeteria.

"Okay, let's get this over with," Azumi sighed and addressed the group, "The plan is simple. Two of us will get rid of any of Them that happen to be wandering around while the other two gather as many supplies as possible. Any questions?"

The blonde hesitantly raised her hand, "U-Um, how are we going to c-carry the supplies?" Azumi paused and blinked a few times in confusion. She then groaned and put her palm to her forehead.

"Right, right. How about you two go back to one of the classrooms we passed and see if you can find a bag. Someone must've left theirs behind in all this mess," Azumi turned to the boy at her side, "Fumio and I will stay here and check out how many of Them we'll be facing." The other two girls nodded and went back in the direction that they came in.

"Hopefully there won't be too many," Fumio murmured and rubbed the back of his neck. She hummed in agreement and headed towards the door. He stuck right behind her and reached out to grasp her hand.

"What?" she whispered and went to shake herself free of his hold. His grip only tightened in response.

"I'm scared." Fumio looked at her with wide eyes. She sighed and flicked his forehead. He stumbled back in surprise and placed his fingers over the inflicted area. Azumi giggled behind her hand and turned her attention back to the creatures that were sure to be on the other side of the door. She gently pushed it open enough for her to peek in. It was only a second later when she gasped and quickly shut the door. A rotting hand thumped against the window that was only a few inches above their heads. Azumi put her hand over Fumio's mouth and inched closer to him with her other arm through the handles to try and keep it closed. She ducked her head and motioned for him to do the same.

The two stayed in that position until the thing let out a low groan and stumbled away. It hadn't noticed them. Fumio let out a sigh of relief and rested his head against the door.

"That was too close," Azumi whispered and he nodded. She waited a few more moments before rising to the tips of her toes to see into the cafeteria. Besides the one that had wandered over in their direction, there were only a few others that stumbled between the tables. One of Them kept walking into the wall by the windows.

"Think we'll be able to handle them?" Fumio asked when she dropped back down to the floor. Azumi nodded.

"We may even be able to take them all out as a group if we're silent enough. Then we could gather as much as we need." Azumi took careful steps away from the door until she felt safe enough to rise to her regular height and stretch her arms. She then sat down with her back against the wall by the hallway. Fumio soon joined her.

"Aren't you scared?" he asked after a long stretch of silence. He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Fumio turned to Azumi to see her staring off in a random direction. She had a concentrated look in her eyes that he was afraid to snap her out of. Eventually he waved his hand in front of her face and that seemed to do the trick.

"What the hell do you think?" she snapped. Fumio cringed at her harsh words, not quite sure how to respond. She looked over at his shivering form from the corner of her eyes and frowned, "Do you have anyone besides your parents out there?"

He nodded, "My older sister, Yuriko, is at her university overseas. She was planning to fly back next week for her break. How about you?"

"I have a younger pair of twin brothers at home. They were too sick to go to school today." "Do you think...?"  
"No," Azumi began to nervously run her fingers through her hair, "It's only a cold. It's only a cold." Her mind instantly went to her mother. She stayed home with them. A feeling of dread settled at the bottom of her stomach and she fought back the sudden wave of nausea. They would be fine. They hadn't gotten bitten. She definitely would've known because of the fact that they couldn't keep a secret. The two loved to complain about everything and would brag constantly about any of their accomplishments. They weren't bitten. Azumi then thought of her father that was out at work. She could only hope that he was still alright.

Fumio didn't seem to know what to do. He opened his mouth and closed it several times before he settled on awkwardly patting her shoulder. She sent a look in his direction that caused his hand to snap back and rest on the floor between them.

"I wonder if this is going on anywhere else," Azumi said after a moment.

"I hope not," Fumio muttered and rose to his feet at the sound of footsteps. Momo and the still unknown girl came around the corner with a bag slung over each of their shoulders. The blonde clutched tightly onto the straps and glanced nervously in the direction of the door.

"H-How does it look?" she asked as Momo handed her bag to Fumio. He pulled at the zipper and saw a large pile of socks tucked inside. Fumio looked at Momo in confusion and she smiled.

"Your useful is getting pretty dirty. Might as well change it every once in a while." She chuckled at his puzzled expression before she turned to hear what Azumi was saying.

"It doesn't seem to be that difficult," she paused to glance at the small group around her, "Momo, Fumio, and I will go in and deal with them and then we can all go gather as much as we can."

Fumio nudged Momo to get her attention once more, "Where exactly did you get these socks?"

"Oh, well one of the classrooms we went into had a lot of the dead things laying around so Momo figured it would be nice to give you a gift," she nodded her head as if to confirm her words and she pointed at the bag, "Use it well, okay?" Fumio sighed and promised to before he gave her a quick smile. Her grin grew even larger, if it were even possible.

"Are you two coming?" Azumi asked before she began to head towards the door. Along the way she picked up her broom that she dropped when she was checking the cafeteria. Fumio slipped his arms through the straps of the bag and held on tightly to his weapon while Momo took a few practice swings in the air with her crowbar. The other girl stood by the entrance to the hallway with her hands still running over her own bag.

Momo and Fumio crouched down behind Azumi as she slowly opened the double doors. She made one quick gesture with her hand before she ran forward to connect the handle of her broom with the head of one of the things. It stumbled and fell over onto one of the tables with its claw-like hands still trying to reach out towards Azumi. She brought the broom down one more time and blood splattered across her shirt and face. Meanwhile Momo pounced on two of Them that wandered over at the sound of fighting. Fumio was just behind her with his sock already swinging to connect with the rotting flesh in his path. He quickly backed away to let Momo bring down the killing blows on them both.

The fighting pair continued to attack another one of the things while Azumi glanced around the cafeteria. On one side of the room there were the windows that the food was served from as well as a door next to them. That was where they would head. She was able to get the others' attention and pointed out their destination. As a group they were able to knock aside any of Them that tried to get in their way. Fumio was even able to kill one with a single blow to its face which sent it sprawling across the floor. When they finally reached the door Azumi reached down to turn the handle. It was locked. Momo didn't even have to be asked to swing her crowbar at the glass. It easily shattered and she reached in to open the door.

A quick look inside set their minds at ease; nobody was there. Fumio opened his bag and they went to work at opening up all of the different boxes that were laying about. The three shoved cans containing all kinds of food inside it until it began to feel a bit heavy. Momo had just zipped it shut when they heard the sound of someone approaching. It was the blonde girl.

"Did y-you find a lot?" she asked with one hand resting on the door frame. Azumi nodded and began to gather up bottles of water into her arms.

"We'll be needing these. Here, give me your bag." The girl handed it over and Azumi put the bottles inside. As she was pulling her hand out she felt a cold, smooth surface. She frowned and pulled out the object. It was a phone.

"I a-already tried it. N-No service," the girl stuttered as she stared down at her clasped hands, "I also put the r-ruler... thing in there."

"Good. We don't want to lose it." Azumi nodded and closed the bag with a quick flick of her wrist, "Let's take over quick look around to make sure we didn't miss any-" Her words were cut off at the sound of groaning. Their eyes looked over at the door that the blonde stood in to see a bloodied hand grab onto her long hair. She barely had any time to shriek before it tugged her back and another hand reached over her shoulder to get a better hold of her. Teeth came down on her flesh and blood flew through the air. The girl let out a hideous scream before her neck was snapped by its powerful jaws and her body went limp.

Momo was the first to react and leaped towards the deadly creature with a battle cry of her own. She brought her weapon down on the thing's head several times before she aimed the crowbar at the blonde. Her "new" clothes were almost drenched in the girl's blood. She then stumbled backwards and fell to her knees with her face in her hands. The rest of the group could only look on in horror at what had just happened. It took a while for the scene to register in Azumi's mind. She felt a few tears trickle down her cheeks and she quickly brushed them away with the back of her hand.

"Momo," Fumio murmured and crawled towards the silent girl, "Are you alright?" He sat down beside her and brushed a hand over her orange curls. When he was given no response he went on to place a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into an embrace. She turned her face so her cheek was resting against his chest, revealing that she was not crying. Still, her usually cheerful face seemed to have dimmed and become paler. A frown pulled at the corners of her lips and her eyes were narrowed as if she was lost in thought.

"She is dead and will continue to act dead. I made sure of that," she murmured after a moment and buried her face into the cloth of his shirt. Fumio stayed still for a while longer before he turned to look at Azumi. Terror was seen clearly in his wide eyes and shaking hands. She had to get the group back together. If they continued to sit around, well, there would be three more bodies roaming around the school. She couldn't let what happened to the girl happen to them as well. Azumi took a deep breath and rose to her feet. It was a struggle to put the bag over her shoulder as her eyes refused to leave the mangled body before them. They could have saved her. She could have saved her. It had happened so fast, though. There was little time to react.

Azumi approached the pair and crouched down to ruffle Fumio's hair, "Come on. It's time we get going."

"Don't you care?" he asked in a whisper. His fingers continued to run through Momo's hair as he spoke, "She died right in front of us, and we don't even know her name. Well, unless you do." Fumio looked up at Azumi with raised eyebrows. He thought she knew. Actually, he was hoping she knew. From the look on his face she assumed he already knew the answer.

"I don't," Azumi sighed and brushed a few purple strands of hair from her eyes, "but that doesn't matter now. We have to go or we'll end up just like her."

"If we go out there, there will be an even larger chance of us getting bitten!" Fumio growled and rose to his feet, "I don't want to end up as one of _Them_! I don't want to act like _that_! I don't.. I don't..." Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes and he wiped them away as soon as they started to run down his face. Eventually he was able to get control of himself and he looked back at Azumi, "I'm sorry, I know we can't stay here. I'm just," he let out a shakey breath, "I'm just afraid."

"It's alright to be afraid," Azumi replied in an even tone, "but you can't let your fear control you. We have family out there." She stepped towards Fumio and reached a hand out to entangle her fingers with his own, "We have to find them, and I promise you that we will. We'll find your sister a-and..." Her sentence trailed off when she realized that his eyes were once again on the girl's body. She used her other hand to rest on his cheek and bring his attention back to her, "I can't go out there alone, Fumio. I need your help."

"I would only get in the way," he nodded towards his bandaged arms.  
"No, you won't. You're much more useful than her, that's for sure."  
"It's not very nice to speak like that about the dead, you know."

His words struck home and she instantly regretted what she said. Still, Azumi attemped to shake it off and stepped away from him to focus on Momo. She had gone back to crouching on the floor with her bloodied hands opened palms-up before her.

"How's it going, Momo?" Azumi asked as she bent down to her level. Momo shrugged and tried to smile at her, but she failed miserably.

"Momo feels like she failed, even though the girl was mean to her," she whispered and began to play with the torn edges of her shirt, "Her blood is all over my hands and clothes."

"We'll find you some new clothes once we're out of here," Azumi assured her with a ghost of a smile on her face, "You know... you shouldn't feel guilty, Momo. The moment she was bitten there was no hope for her. You prevented her from coming one of Them."

"Momo made sure she would act dead," she looked up at Azumi and once again nodded to herself, "I did a good thing." Momo rose to her feet and turned to face Fumio with her usual shit-eating smile flashing for them all to see, "Thankyou for comforting me, Fumio! Momo greatly appreciates it!" He struggled to respond as a light blush colored his cheeks.

"Don't strain yourself. We have a lot of fighting left to do." Azumi picked up Momo's crowbar and tossed it to her before she went to pick up her broom. Fumio had the sock clutched in his hand when she came back to them, "Alright, is everyone ready?"

"All set," Fumio nodded and Momo quickly agreed with him before she put her hand in the middle of the little circle that they had formed. Azumi looked over at her in confusion.

"We're a team! We have to act like one, don't we?" Momo asked with her head tilted slightly to the side. She gestured for Fumio to imitate her and he relucantly did just that. They both stared at Azumi to see what she would do. Immediately she furrowed her brows and crossed her arms across her chest in defiance. Momo began to hum after a few minutes and inched closer and closer to her friend. Soon their arms were brushing and she was still trying to push herself even closer to her.

"Fine, fine," Azumi gave in and placed her hand on top of theirs. Momo grinned and hopped back to her original position in the circle.

"All for one!" she cheered and waited for the others to continue.  
"What does this even have to do-" "And one for all!" Momo giggled, "We have to do it again! You guys have to show more spirit!"  
"Momo, I'm not-"  
"All for one!"  
Fumio and Azumi sighed before they pitched in with her, "And one for all!"

* * *

_Next time on Another Day!_

**To be added soon


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